but what about the Exruder? Don't forget this one. The hobbed insert is hard to get and when you get it the price is high. Somebody should recreate another one, based on common tiles, preferably the MK8 gear for example. And it is not because I got some here
I choosed them as it seems that these are the best choice for transporting filament.

but what about the Exruder? Don't forget this one. The hobbed insert is hard to get and when you get it the price is high. Somebody should recreate another one, based on common tiles, preferably the MK8 gear for example. And it is not because I got some here
I choosed them as it seems that these are the best choice for transporting filament.

Best regards,

Sven

I agree that they are somewhat expensive, I've just got some from think3Dprint3D because I got the DueX4 from them [www.think3dprint3d.com]
Not sure if they can be made any cheaper.... but I'm not even sure how or what they are made of probably stainless steel, unless they are zinc plated after hobbing which seems unlikely. I think hobbing is fairly labor intensive (everything else could probably be done on a metal lathe) - and again the tolerances on this are very tight
maybe someone with more machine shop experience can say.

Another reason they are expensive is I don't think there is a huge bulk demand.... Unless you're really cranking through filament or using something super abrasive - not sure you'd ever need to replace it. So if it's only £6.00 for one and you never replace it, it's not too bad, you'll probably pay at least twice that for the stepper driver.

I've seen some jigs on thingiverse for hobbing bolts like this one, although I think ideally you would also have the dremel tool held in the jig.
[www.thingiverse.com]

I am telling that because I got mine here from the shop for about 6€ per piece and that was also some kind of expensive. They look like made of stainless steel. But as here is a big discussion about the nozzle we really should think of the hobbed insert. You cannot use a second nozzle or Extruder without that.
I guess that the amount of demanded pieces makes them that expensive and the common pieces like MK7 or MK8 are commonly produced so they are much cheaper.

I had to order mine from RRP's extruder kit. There are instructions for making a hobbed bolt on the RepRap wiki, which I would have attempted if I had the tools to do so. Obviously not as good as a commercially machined part, and I felt that the relatively low cost was worth the expense. It was definitely cheaper than all of the tools

Quote0x0000
I had to order mine from RRP's extruder kit. There are instructions for making a hobbed bolt on the RepRap wiki, which I would have attempted if I had the tools to do so. Obviously not as good as a commercially machined part, and I felt that the relatively low cost was worth the expense. It was definitely cheaper than all of the tools

That one will not work with the standard Extruder. That is why I choose the original hobbed insert for my own Ormerod clone. But at that time I only found not much vendors. Mostly demanded more than 10€ others demanded more than 20€! So it would be a good idea to consider a redesign.

This is very sad all the way around. I have been very impressed with the engineering of their products and the level of service and support provided.

I inquired about the temperature limitations of the QuickSet hot end shortly after it was introduced and was told the primary limitation is the thermistor being used, which is good to 300C. With alternate temperature-measurement provisions, they reported promising FEA results up to 500C, though the cooling block would go to 50C and the assembly might be radiating enough heat to be problematic to surrounding structure at that point.

As far as spares, one of the nice things about the construction of these machines is that they are totally modular and it is a piece of cake to make modified RP parts to adapt parts. Given a compatible mounting and interface with the bowden tube, extruder drives and hot ends are pretty much plug-and-play.

That said, the RRP extruder drive is great in providing the function of an expensive geared stepper with an inexpensive standard stepper in a compact package and I also really like the tongue-and-groove attachment of the top end of the Bowden tube. With a different bearing on the large gear, an M5 screw with a flat milled on one side of the shaft, an M5 washer and nut, and dimensional modifications to the drive block and large gear as necessary, the $9 hobbed drive roller from SeeMeCNC could be adapted into the RRP extruder drive, probably less-expensively than a small run of custom hobbed drive gears. The grooved brass fitting doesn't strike me as something that would be exceptionally difficult to machine, but it still might be cheaper to adapt the drive block for a PTC when people no longer have spares.

The low thermal mass, temperature capability, and height adjustability of the QuickSet are also exceptional. I would have to do some digging to see if I could find a commercially-available nozzle that could be adapted into this assembly.

Think3DPrint3D uses the same hobbed insert on their Mini Kossel extruder I believe, so I expect the hobbed insert will continue to be available from them.

I used pneumatic connectors on my extruders for a while, but I found they lost their grip after a few insertions and removals of the PTFE tube, so I had to replace them. After a few replacements, the thread in the extruder drive wore and would no longer hold the connector against the force of the filament. Another pneumatic connector lost one of its metal teeth, which found its way into the hot end of my Kossel and wrecked it. So I reverted to the brass end and locking tongue.

Quotedroftarts
Sorry about this, everyone, and thanks for all your support over the years.

I was made redundant on 11th December. I've stayed away from the forums since then to avoid any embarrassing questions, until there was an official announcement. I'll help out where I can, though I don't actually own an Omerod! I do have a Fisher, though, and might be able to have the Tall-merod at some point.

Anyone want to employ a technical support engineer?! Any (helpful) suggestions gratefully received!

Ian
ex-RepRapPro tech support

Ian, you have nothing to apologise about, as it wasn't in your control. Add to that your immense assistance with the forums and myself, RRP were lucky to have you.

Regarding employment, you have a large amount of experience and expertise in the field of 3D printing. As it's a young field, if you can find another 3D printing company with the right fit, then IMHO you may get regarded as a bit of a star applicant (You can even point to the forums here as some evidence of the quality of your work and customer service.)

Or perhaps even start your own RRP based offshoot? You have a reputation already, which is useful headstart. (If you decide to go down that route, I'll be happy to provide any advice and assistance as a small business owner in your area, feel free to contact me - I'll buy you lunch anytime! )

Lastly, and talking to the forum in general - would it be worth getting a page on reprap.org detailing alternate sources for various parts? If that isn't possible (advertising rules or whatever), then perhaps a separate endeavour by RRP printer (or more specifically Ormerod 2) owners could prove rather useful?... e.g. a Google spreadsheet or some other collaborative measure (perhaps even a stickied post)

Quotedc42
Think3DPrint3D uses the same hobbed insert on their Mini Kossel extruder I believe, so I expect the hobbed insert will continue to be available from them.

T3P3 unfortunately is very expensive. This may be caused because it is a small company, but 6 GBP for a hobbed insert? I earlier paid only about 60% of this price probably less for one. And there are only a few shops whose have this in stock and some of them are even more expensive. That is why I am considering to use standard components. In my eyes it would be indeed a better way to use standard components as the Ormerod is spreaded world wide and not every country can get such kind of parts. Think about those persons. This is much more important than the price. (I even would pay such a high price for a hobbed insert as it is only one time for a dual nozzle upgrade which costs much more so this little costs are not much noticeable).

@cheeseandham: I do not think that there would be a problem to reserve a page where you can get parts. These pages already exists at the wiki for the heated beds or for the common hobbed inserts for example.

QuoteTreito
T3P3 unfortunately is very expensive. This may be caused because it is a small company, but 6 GBP for a hobbed insert? I earlier paid only about 60% of this price probably less for one. And there are only a few shops whose have this in stock and some of them are even more expensive. That is why I am considering to use standard components. In my eyes it would be indeed a better way to use standard components as the Ormerod is spreaded world wide and not every country can get such kind of parts. Think about those persons. This is much more important than the price. (I even would pay such a high price for a hobbed insert as it is only one time for a dual nozzle upgrade which costs much more so this little costs are not much noticeable).

I've got my finger on the order button for a Duet 0.8.5 on T3P3, but I'm going to have a think about it before placing my order. I do like the Duet and think it's well worth the money, but I've seen so many complaints about its reliability (including my own failed board). There are now only three suppliers for Duet boards in the entire world (Robofun, Replikeo and T3P3... correct me if there are more) - will any more pop up, or will these vendors stop carrying it due to the high failure rate? I think it's very important to come up with alternative ways to drive the printer, such as a basic RAMPS kit off eBay. I've been looking at the RAMBO in particular, as a lot of the wiring for the stepper motors, heated bed, and hotend cartridge looks to be interchangeable with the Duet... the proximity sensor might be an issue, and I'm not sure of the power supply requirements! I believe I've seen someone on the forum claiming to use RAMPS before, but I've not seen a documented approach to getting it running on an Ormerod. In particular, I would be really keen to see how it's commissioned and calibrated.

I'll keep an eye out. I have a mechanically complete printer, but no electronic brain to drive it! I'm keen to experiment and don't have many options with a dead Duet.

You could use other controllers like RAMPS with the Ormerod. Why you have not seen any report? Nobody would do that because you only will have disadvantages. It is harder to setup, a web-interface is not easy to get and they are as well problematic like the Duet.
I am unsure if I will buy a Duet 0.85 for my new printer design. It will be of Dual nozzle support. I have a spare Duet 0.6 here and also a Duet shield, but this was mainly intended for my Ormerod 2.

QuoteTreito
You could use other controllers like RAMPS with the Ormerod. Why you have not seen any report? Nobody would do that because you only will have disadvantages. It is harder to setup, a web-interface is not easy to get and they are as well problematic like the Duet.
I am unsure if I will buy a Duet 0.85 for my new printer design. It will be of Dual nozzle support. I have a spare Duet 0.6 here and also a Duet shield, but this was mainly intended for my Ormerod 2.

Good luck. You may have the advantage if something is broken you only have to exchange some parts of your controller items but you will also need a voltmeter and a screw to setup the motor currents instead of a connection, a keyboard and an editor.

Quotedc42
Think3DPrint3D uses the same hobbed insert on their Mini Kossel extruder I believe, so I expect the hobbed insert will continue to be available from them.

T3P3 unfortunately is very expensive. This may be caused because it is a small company, but 6 GBP for a hobbed insert? I earlier paid only about 60% of this price probably less for one. And there are only a few shops whose have this in stock and some of them are even more expensive. That is why I am considering to use standard components. In my eyes it would be indeed a better way to use standard components as the Ormerod is spreaded world wide and not every country can get such kind of parts. Think about those persons. This is much more important than the price. (I even would pay such a high price for a hobbed insert as it is only one time for a dual nozzle upgrade which costs much more so this little costs are not much noticeable).

@cheeseandham: I do not think that there would be a problem to reserve a page where you can get parts. These pages already exists at the wiki for the heated beds or for the common hobbed inserts for example.

£6 for a hobbed insert is not a bad price, if I had the equipment to make them it would most likely be the same or more. The only way to reduce price is to have a massive batch of hundreds or a thousand or so made on automated machinery - then you are stuck with a mass of inserts and a relatively small market.

Quote0x0000
I've got my finger on the order button for a Duet 0.8.5 on T3P3, but I'm going to have a think about it before placing my order. I do like the Duet and think it's well worth the money, but I've seen so many complaints about its reliability (including my own failed board.

Is the Duet failure rate high? There must have been many thousands of Duets shipped and we haven't heard of many failures. Those with L7 blown must be the result of shorts or miswiring - on the Duet 0.6 it doesn't help that the hot end heater connections are right next to the thermistor connections. Some of them are Replikeo boards, and from feedback on other forums we know that quality management on the Replikeo boards leaves something to be desired. There remain a few instances of boards with overheating microcontrollers but with L7 intact. I am intrigued by the suggestion that some of these might be caused by a faulty SD card, and I have been in touch with T3P3 regarding how to protect the microcontroller from that.

In the Arduino/RAMPS ecosystem there are frequent reports of issues with overheating voltage regulators, overheating bed mosfets, burned out power connectors, and failed drivers (probably because the PCB area is far too small to cool the chip properly and it is hard to set the correct motor current).

The problem with "standard parts" is that all too often they have design flaws that don't get addressed (as in Arduino/RAMPS), and they are often only cheap because the manufacturing is of poor quality.

the point is that I have paid less here at the shop and most important is the availability. Here are many users which could not obtain this part as it will not be delivered to their country. What about them? Do we really need parts for a bunch of printers? Is there a problem with the MK( hobbed insert? I understand as the printer was designed that the MK7 or the bolt hobbed insert would not have been suitable for our printers, but now the MK8 is nearly about the same size.

The SD card pins are connected directly to the mcu pins, as on Atmel's evaluation boards. If the SD card has a short between an I/O pin and Vcc or ground, that will draw excess current from the pin and is likely to overheat and damage the mcu.

Two questions:
Was that the reason why one Duet board of mine was broken? Or even both? Even though the SD-card was working well at my PC? Meanwhile I luckily exchanged the card with a faster one, but it would be important to know for me. Couldn't you use the internal temperature sensor for monitoring the MCU temperature to shut it down?

QuoteTreito
Two questions:
Was that the reason why one Duet board of mine was broken? Or even both? Even though the SD-card was working well at my PC? Meanwhile I luckily exchanged the card with a faster one, but it would be important to know for me. Couldn't you use the internal temperature sensor for monitoring the MCU temperature to shut it down?

Sorry, I still don't know why your boards failed. Using the internal temperature sensor is a good idea - I'll add it to my list of firmware improvements to make.

No problem, but as far as I know I used the same SD-card for both failed boards, but I am not sure as one time the filesystem was damaged.That means that it has to be at least two different cards if I reflect this. Maybe there is even more we should talk about, but not in public. First I would like to know what happens after a SD-card destroyed a board. Can these boards still boot? What is not working anymore? What is still working?

The only evidence I am aware of for an SD card destroying a board is this note at [reprappro.com]:

"Is the main ARM processor getting warm/hot? We’ve had a couple of people report that the SD card has shorted out the processor, due to manufacturing defects. Unfortunately, this is usually terminal.".

If the SD card is shorting out the processor, then it might damage the whole processor, or just the SD card interface pins. If it's just the SD card interface pins, then if the SD card is removed, it should be possible to connect to the printer over USB. The firmware used to need to execute an M555 P2 command in config.g to put it in Marlin emulation mode before it would respond to Pronterface, but in recent versions of my fork I have made Marlin emulation the default.

but what about the Extruder? Don't forget this one. The hobbed insert is hard to get and when you get it the price is high. Somebody should recreate another one, based on common tiles, preferably the MK8 gear for example. And it is not because I got some here
I choose them as it seems that these are the best choice for transporting filament.

I have attached the hobbed-insert drawing, found it the tags view of RRP Ormerod git hub as 528.4, within a folder called pdf, the Bowen brass ends and start drawings are in there also. The main reason that they are expensive or vendors demand high prices, is due to the lack of them and the manufacturer needing the equipment and skills to automate the process so that you ship large numbers of them. The machine shop also needs to cover their overheads say of about £250/day so doing small amounts of one item becomes expensive, if the job is complex or needs human invention that can push up the cost.
Davek0974 the person who makes the very good Aluminium x-rib has given an example of this by stated that needs 6 orders before starting the machine so it's worth the cost of running it.

Using the wayback machine RRP sold their ones for £4.17 . So they must have be buying loads of them, but of course there is one in every kit.
That together with some M3 x 30 hex bolts, 2 M3 nyloc nuts, bearings maybe a washer makes a superior feeding mechanism for filament compared to the hobbed bolt.

Just saw this post. Ian i am very sorry to hear the news. I think and wish on the other hand that u ll find ur way ( if you didn't do already) . You helped me a lot with my mendel and ur knowledge and speed are admirable. About the nozzle guys my personal opinion is that it is something that can be done easy if you have the tools. Back in December i broke my nozzle on my way to find the cause of my continuous clogs. The one thing i have found that it would make it better was to make this taller. So first i started to ask some metal lathe spots and workers. When i ve found them difficult to deal with this small quantity as ( i ve given them wrong infos saying it has to be treated for more smoothing) i bought some 304 bolts 50mm and i said i ll do it with what i have.

I managed to go around 2mm in the bolt with the .3mmdrill and a dremel chuck then from 2mm-4mm with a .5mm drill and then up to 7 with the 0.7 drill . I did this in an old bench drill but with top quality lubricant for stainless steel and in a 2 hours preparation - work - inspection time.

I did all this in a 4mm screw which it wasn't the best solution as it had to be wider to fit the bowden tube. Finally i broke the .7 drill and stopped ( funny i broke the strongest one ) . Anyway now i tried from the beginning the .7drill i went 5-8mm deep.

I think it is not difficult all the parts and spares to be made by people with knowledge and equipment but i liked the rpp to be around 3d printing the way it was.

Many thanks for your support! It really does make a great difference to me.

I should also point out that, while I was one of the few 'public-facing' members of the RRP team, there were more of us, and I feel equally badly that they lost their jobs at the same time as me; Joe (who worked for RRP for even longer than me, in production, mainly packing kits), Tom (production, made all the wiring looms and packed kits) and Chris (junior mechanical engineer/designer). There are also the three directors; Sally (who many of you know through sales/admin), Jean-Marc (managing director and head mechanical engineer) and Adrian (engineering R&D, and figurehead!). While Adrian is comfortable in his retirement, the other two still need to put food on the table! We also had a round of lay-offs earlier in the year - Claire (production manager), Joe '90' (ran the production of printed parts), Brad (production), Mark (who did a bit of everything) and, latterly, Nathan (production). I miss working with all these unique people, for the imagination, shared vision and just the general banter and fun we had, and wanted to list them so everyone appreciates the full team that was behind RRP.

I'll leave it to Adrian to explain the reasons for RRP's eventual closure, but my feeling is that the market for 3D printers has moved on from it's DIY roots. The competition from cheap foreign manufacturers, who sell complete printers for the same cost as a kit, and kits very cheaply, is the main factor. Unfortunately, it's only later that customers realise that they don't have the support they need to run a complex piece of machinery. RRP are not the only manufacturer to retreat from the consumer market; even the biggest, Makerbot and 3D Systems, have retrenched. And, perhaps, that 'Consumer 3D printing' has entered the 'Trough of disillusionment' in the 'emerging technologies hype curve'!

Regarding spare parts, and particularly the machined parts, Jean-Marc has always run a separate reprap market-place site [www.emakershop.com]
My understanding is that he will sell RRP-specific parts (nozzles, hobbed inserts etc) through this site. There is some stock left over from RRP, and he knows where to get parts manufactured; as with much of the RRP supply chain, I'm unfortunately not at liberty to reveal our suppliers. The drawings and specifications are available, if you want to get the parts manufactured elsewhere, and other companies like RepRapPro China and Replikeo may be able to supply parts too, so hopefully people won't get left in the lurch too much. You can always contact me through the forums if you need help, and I'll try and point you in the right direction.

I should also point out that, while I was one of the few 'public-facing' members of the RRP team, there were more of us, and I feel equally badly that they lost their jobs at the same time as me; Joe (who worked for RRP for even longer than me, in production, mainly packing kits), Tom (production, made all the wiring looms and packed kits) and Chris (junior mechanical engineer/designer). There are also the three directors; Sally (who many of you know through sales/admin), Jean-Marc (managing director and head mechanical engineer) and Adrian (engineering R&D, and figurehead!). While Adrian is comfortable in his retirement, the other two still need to put food on the table! We also had a round of lay-offs earlier in the year - Claire (production manager), Joe '90' (ran the production of printed parts), Brad (production), Mark (who did a bit of everything) and, latterly, Nathan (production). I miss working with all these unique people, for the imagination, shared vision and just the general banter and fun we had, and wanted to list them so everyone appreciates the full team that was behind RRP.

Ian

i thought i wrote it but i didn't. That was exactly what i was thinking writing down to sally about the news. RPP are humans. And these people in my opinion was just driving the car of 3d printing.
Anyway there aren't much to say.

Dave i think it would . but this nozzle were something i liked it a lot . Only if it was a little taller. Anyway we ll see how it will go.